Tractor.



D. MEYER.

TRACTOR. APPLICATION men APR. 14. ms.

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l- D. MEYER.

TRACTOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I4, 1913.

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3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

p. MEYER. TRACTOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. \4 I913.

Patented 5 11 .27, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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TRACTOR.

i-eases.

. To all whom it may concern Beit lmo'wn that I, DANIEL.MEYER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Morris, in the county of Stevens and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Tractors, of which the follpwing is a specification.

An object of this invention isthe production of a simple, inexpensive and effective tractor, that is particularly adapted for use by persons unfamiliar with machinery and which will Withstand rough use.

Another object is to produce a machine of the character designated in which the prime mover is so connected with the driving element or elements that the transmission is as direct and efficient as possible, producing a powerful self propelled vehicle which is light in weight and adapted for general farm work.

Other objects will-be apparent following description.

It has heretofore been customary to employ complicated and expensive mechanism in farm tractors necessitating great weight and a large amount of fuel to obtain traction and speed which are required in producing a practical machine. With my invention the Weight and fuel consumed are reduced to a minimum and the mechanism simplified without impairing traction in producing a thoroughly practical and economical structure, which can be used in from. the

soft fields for plowing, seeding, harvesting and other work or on the road for hauling heavy loads of grain or In the accompanying drawings forming I part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section illustrating my improved tractor; Fig. 2 is a plan View partly in section; Fig. 3 is a detail partly in section illustrating part of the transmission mechanism; Fig. 4 is a side elevation partly in section of part of the transmission mechanism illustrating the differential mechanism which may be used; Fig. 5 is a detail of one of the drive wheels; Fig. 6 is another detail looking at the side of the structure illustrated in Fig. 5', and Fig. 7, is a plan showing a detail of the shifting levers for throwing the clutches into and out of operation in the transmission mechanism.

Specification of Letters Patent.

other commodities.

Patented Apr. 2?, 1915.

Application filed April 14, 1913. Seria1'N0.760,892.

In the drawings A indicates a suitable frame or body of angle-iron construction axle 5 and the forward axle 6. Upon the rear axle are suitably journaled a pair of drlve wheels 7, which are of similar con .struction and upon thefront axle are carried suitable carrying wheels 8, which as illustrated are of less diameter than the drive wheels. Suitable steering parts 9 are interposed in. the front axle for the purpose of guiding the carrying wheels, this part of the structure being of ordinary. form and not constituting an essential, part of my invention, it being understood that any steering mechanism may be employed for guiding the front Wheels. The drive wheels 7 are each provided with broad traction faces or rims 10, which are adapted to run uponthe ground to propel the vehicle. The inner surface of therim of each of thesewheels is provided with cog teeth in the form of antifriction rollers 11 suitably spaced apart circumferentially of the drive wheel and carried by a pair of rings 12 and 13 of angle iron, which are mounted upon the inner face of the rim.- The rings 12 and 13 are spaced resting-at right angles to the inner face of the rim and to which a hollow shaft 15 is secured endwise by a bolt 16 passing through said sides and clamping said shaft in place. On each of the shafts 15 an 'antifriction roller .11 is freely journaled. The laterally extending sides 17 and 18 of the rings are secured to the inner face of the rim by rivets 19 or other suitable means. Power is applied to the drive wheel 7 by suitable teeth formed by the antifriction rollers 11 on the inner surface of the rim 10 of the drive wheels as will be hereinafter described. This mode of propelling the drive wheels is very etficient and effective because power is directly appliedclose to the traction.

Mounted upon the frame A are two gas engines B and C constituting a prime mover from which power is transmitted to the drive wheels. Each of these engines as illustrated is provided with a pair of cylin- 'nions. the teeth of which mesh with the,

ders 25 carried by a shell 26, which is secured to the frame A of the vehicle by bolts 27, the drive shaft 28 (see'i- Fig. 1), being common to both structures.- It is obvious that a pair of drive shafts may be employed, one for each engine and arranged in coaxial alinement, said shafts being suitably connected to produce in effect a single shaft. The axis of the shaft or shafts of the engines is parallel with the'axis on which the drive wheels 7 are arranged. Mounted upon the shaft or shafts of the engines B and C is a main drive gear 29, said gear being free to rotate on the shaft or shafts and adapted to be connected therewith by a suitable clutch 30, Which-is thrown into and out of operation to connect or disconnect the gear 29 by means of a lever handle 31 extending back within reach of the operator standing upon the platform 32 at the rear end of the machine. The handle 31 is pivoted by one end at 33 upon a bracket 34, which is mounted upon the frame A of the machine and the intermediate portion of the'handle is pivot ally connected at 35 to a collar 36, which is connected to the driving element of the clutch 30 in the usual manner. Meshing with the teeth of the main drive gear 29 is a transmission gear 37, which is carried by differential gearing 38, said gearing being, carried by the adjacent ends of'az pair of shafts 39 and 40. The shafts 39 and 40 and p the driven gear 37 are arranged on an axis parallel with the axis of the shaft orshafts of the engines and their outer ends carry pinions 41 and 42, whose teeth mesh with the teeth of the gear formed by the antifriction rollers 11 on the inner surface of the rims of the drive wheels 7 and are adapted to drive the wheels in one direction. The pinion 41 is integral with a sleeve 43 and the pinion 42 integral with the sleeve 44, said sleeves being respectively mounted upon the shafts 39 and 40. The sleeve 43 is journaled in the bearing 45 and held from longitudinal movement by the collar 46 and an annular shoulder such as indicated by 47 in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The sleeves 43 and 44 are similar in construction, the sleeve 44 being held longitudinally in place in its bearing 48 by the collar 49 and an annular shoulder 47. The bearings 45 and 48 are mounted upon the frame "A and secured thereto such as by bolts 50. As a result the sleeves and pinions 41 and 42 always revolve with the drive wheelsf The sleeves 43 and Marc free to turn on the shafts 39 and 40, but are adapted to be connected thereto and driven by means of clutches 51 and 52,

said clutches being feathered to the shafts 39 and 40 and slidably mounted upon said shafts whereby they may be moved into and out of connection with the sleeves 43 and 44 and the pinions which they carry. The

driving member of reach of the clutches 51 and 52 is pivotally connected to a handle by wvhich it is operated; the driving member 52 is similarly connected to the operating handle 56 by the pivot 57, the inner end of said handle being pivotally attached at 58 to the frame A. By this construction the driving members of the clutches can be shifted into and out of connection With the driven elements connecting with thepinions 41 and 42.

The differential gearing 38 is of ordinary construction, it being preferable not to use bevel gears interposed between its driving member 37 and the driven shafts. 39 and 40, thereby transmitting power to said shafts with little friction and loss.

In operation, the engines B and C revolve the gear 39 which transmits its motion through the gear 37 differential gearing 38,

shafts 39 and 40, sleeves 43 and 44 and pin-.

ions 41- and 42 to the'rim of the drive wheels, no bevel gears being employed and the application of power being very direct and with little loss. To reverse the motion of the drive wheels'a counter shaft-60, (see Fig. 3) is employed below each of the shafts 39 and 40, motion being transmitted to each of said counter shafts, through a driven gear 61 on each by adriving gear 62 freely mounted on the shaft 39 and a driving gear 63 freely mounted upon the shaft 40. The gear 61, (see Fig. 3) is secured to the counter shaft 60 by the key 64 and said shaft 60 is freely journaled in the bearings 65' and 66. The bearing box 48 is formed integral with a web 67- extending down- \vardly over the side of the longitudinal bar 2, to which it is secured by the bolts 50, and formed integral on the lower end of said web is the bearing box 65. The bearing box 66 is secured to oneof the longitudinal bars 2' of the frame A by bolts 68 passing through its lower flange and to the upper flange of the same longitudinal bar 2, another bearing box 69 is fastened by bolts 70 in which bearing box the shaft 40 is also journaled. This mode of construction is followed on each side of the difierential' gearing below the shafts 39 and 40 and it'- will be noted that the bearing boxes 69 between Which the differential gearing is placed prevents lateral movement of the casing 71 of the differential gearing. The counter shafts 60 in co-axial alinement lie parallel with the axis of the shafts 39 and 40 and below them. Upon the outer end of the shaft-60 is a pinion 72 similar to the pinion 42, the pinions on the two counter shafts being adapted to mesh with the teeth on the inner surfaces of the rims of the drive wheels and revolve with the drive wheels. The pinion. 72 is formed with a sleeve 73 similar to the sleeve 4% and IS bracket 84, carried by the frame A.

journaled in the bearing 65. T he inner end of said sleeve is formed with an annular stop shoulder 74 and a collar 75 is mounted on the sleeve, said shoulder 7%: and collar 75 shifting the driving member of the clutch 76 into and out of connection with. the sleeve 7 3 is by means of a shifting arm 81, one end of which is secured by means of the pivot 82 to the band'79, and mounting it between its ends by a pivot bolt 83 upon ftime s 1e power end of the lever 81 is pivotally connected by the bolt 85 to the link-86, which turn is pivotally fastened by the bolt 87 'to that portion of the shifting arm 56 ex- ,tending on its power end from the clutch member 52. In this manner a combined shifting lever is provided wherein the two clutches 52 and 76 are simultaneously thrown into and out of connection with their respective driven members, so that when moved to extreme position in one direction the drive wheels are adapted to be driven forward and when reversed to extreme po- 1;:l-sition in the other direction the drive wheels are driven backwzfrd. The engagement between the clutch 52 and the gear 63 is adapted to transmit motion from the shaft 46 to said gear, said gear being freely journaled upon the shaft 40 between two collars 88 and- 89, mounted upon said shaft.

The construction described pertaining to Tone side of the mechanism for connecting throw to one of the drive wheels is similar to the construction of mechanism on the other side connecting with the other drive wheel and by the construction set forth the drive wheels may be operated together or either one separately and the machine can easily be controlled by an operator through the use of'the levers 31, 5 f and56. To start or reverse the vehicle, it is only necessary to either or both of said drive wheels into or out of connection for forward or backward movement thereof. It is also feasible to stop the machine by throwing the shifting levers 5-1 and 56 into neutral posh tion or by throwing the lever 31 into posishafts journaled tion disconnecting the drive gear '29 with the operating shaft or shafts of the engine;

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof but I desire to have it understood that the construction shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means and applied to uses other than those above set forth within the scope of the following claims Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent 182 1. In a self propelled vehicle, a supporting frame, carrying wheels for said frame, one of which forming a propelling element and being freely journaled, a prime mover carried by said frame, a drive shaft journaled on said frame parallel to the axis of said propelling element, said propelling element carrying gear teeth adjacent its rim, a pinion on said shaft having straight teeth meshing with the teeth on said driving element, a counter shaft journaled on said frame, whose axis lies parallel with the axis of said shaft, a pinion on said counter shaft having straight teeth meshing with the test. on said driving element, a train of gearing carried by said frame and connecting said pri-me mover with said shaft and counter shaft, the axes of rotation of the gears constituting said trainlying parallel with the axes of said prime mover, shaft and counter shaft, clutches carried by said shaft and counter shaft, and adapted to communicate motion from said train of gearing to said shaft and counter shaft and means for shifting said clutches simultaneously into and out of connection with said gears whereby motion is transmitted to said driving element in a direct manner to revolve it either in forward or backward direction.

2, In a self propelled vehicle, a supporting frame, carrying wheels for said frame, a pair of which are adapted to propel said vehicle and are freely journaled upon said frame, a prime mover carried by said frame, differential gearing operatively connected with said prime mover, a pair of main on said frame parallel to the axis of said propelling wheels and connected with said differential gearing to be driven therebv, pinions carried by the outer ends of said shafts, counter shafts journaled upon said frame in co-axial alinement and lying parallel to the axis of said main shafts, gear teeth carried by the inner surfaces of the rims of said propelling wheels with which the teeth of said pinions are adapted to mesh, means carried by each of said main shaftsfor driving one of said counter shafts and clutches interposed between each of said main shafts and its driven counter shaft shafts or its counter shaft, wherebythe pro- 'pelling wheels are adapted to be revolved in either a forward or backward direction.

and adapted to com-. munlcate motion to drive either sald mam DANIEL MEYER: Witnesses:

H. -L. FISCHER, F. G. BRADBURY. 

